USC wins 48 national fellowships for advanced study

With the help of faculty, staff, students and Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs, 48 national fellowship awards and $1,387,135 for advanced academic study have been won by the University of South Carolina this year.

The awards are for academic study, research and teaching in the United States or abroad.

Student winners include two Morris K. Udall Scholars; five NOAA/Hollings Scholars; two Goldwater Scholars; a Knowles Scholar; four NSF Graduate Student Research Fellows; two Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars; four U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholars; five Fulbright Scholars; two National Security Education Program/Boren Scholars; one Javits Scholar; and one Thomas Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellow.

Faculty partners represent nine colleges and schools with undergraduate programs as well as the School of Medicine and the School of Law. Working with OFSP they write letters of recommendation, serve on scholarship committees and interview teams, and assist students as they write essays and assemble resumes for these competitions.

Students also have positive experiences with the application process.

“The application process for both of these awards really forced me to make a plan for myself after graduation,” said Taylor Odom, a Boren and Pickering finalist. “If it had not been for these application processes, I would still be wandering around campus stuck in ‘college’ mode -- not looking toward the future and seeing what I can do now to better myself for later.”

Since the fellowships office initiated this partnership in 1994, USC students and alumni have won 538 national awards totaling more than $15 million for advanced academic study.

For a list of winners and information on how USC students can apply for national awards, go to http://www.sc.edu/ofsp